What's a vacation?
We just got finished with one of the biggest vacation getaway weekends of the year here in France. Almost everyone who takes a holiday in the summer includes the week of August 15th in their plans.
Since the 15th itself is a national holiday, when everything is closed, it makes sense. If, as it did this year, the 15th falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, then lots and lots of people make it a four-day weekend. The autoroutes tend to be a mess, especially on Saturday, and any interesting tourist destination is packed.
Our usually tranquil Possum Kingdom was no exception. It definitely seemed to us that there were more people around than last year. I know that all of our friends with B&Bs are booked solid and running off their feet.
Monday, we had dinner with artist friends. One of their other guests was expecting visitors who had planned to spend the night in Carcassonne; they could not find a room anywhere in town and had moved on to Limoux, which also appeared to be totally sold out. They were happy to accept camping out on her floor as an alternative to spending the night in their car.
I don't know if the people who deserted France last year for vacations in Eastern Europe have returned, or if it's just a general upswing in tourism, but it has certainly been good for the local economy. One day last week the bakery ran out of croissants by 9 am and had to quickly throw in a new batch.
JM and I have also been busy, because with so many visitors from out of town, including a lot of regular Possumworld readers, we've been having our own fair share of guests, even if it's only for a chat and a cup of coffee. It's quite nice to put faces to the emails I receive.
Even our little library is booming. After being closed since Friday afternoon, I've had 15 clients in the first hour we've been open.
So, although I'm not getting much rest, it seems that the whole rest of the world is enjoying their summer vacation.
Ciao for now.
Randy
Since the 15th itself is a national holiday, when everything is closed, it makes sense. If, as it did this year, the 15th falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, then lots and lots of people make it a four-day weekend. The autoroutes tend to be a mess, especially on Saturday, and any interesting tourist destination is packed.
Our usually tranquil Possum Kingdom was no exception. It definitely seemed to us that there were more people around than last year. I know that all of our friends with B&Bs are booked solid and running off their feet.
Monday, we had dinner with artist friends. One of their other guests was expecting visitors who had planned to spend the night in Carcassonne; they could not find a room anywhere in town and had moved on to Limoux, which also appeared to be totally sold out. They were happy to accept camping out on her floor as an alternative to spending the night in their car.
I don't know if the people who deserted France last year for vacations in Eastern Europe have returned, or if it's just a general upswing in tourism, but it has certainly been good for the local economy. One day last week the bakery ran out of croissants by 9 am and had to quickly throw in a new batch.
JM and I have also been busy, because with so many visitors from out of town, including a lot of regular Possumworld readers, we've been having our own fair share of guests, even if it's only for a chat and a cup of coffee. It's quite nice to put faces to the emails I receive.
Even our little library is booming. After being closed since Friday afternoon, I've had 15 clients in the first hour we've been open.
So, although I'm not getting much rest, it seems that the whole rest of the world is enjoying their summer vacation.
Ciao for now.
Randy
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